What do you do?

[wookie1965]

Im hoping to go camping around Barmouth in August taking my scope with dark skies and weather permitting (fingers crossed) im hoping for some viewing i have been missing.

[baggywrinkle]

I can now move to Solar and Lunar and planetary when the skies are clear. I also want to get then ew obsy fully set up and user friendly.

It is not so much a lack of targets to visit but the unsocial hours it will be getting dark and then light again.

Lots of reading too.

[Linda]

I plan to use my solar filter. Until now I haven't been able to use it on a sun that is high in the sky, trying to sketch more solar spots.

In Mai 9th, I'm going to watch the Mercury transition, if weather allows.

I am also going to order my second scope, a 8" Dobson for next season and making a dew shield for it.

Maybe I will also order that motordrive for my EQ3 and test it.

My new finder scope also needs a dew shield, which is definitively not more than 1 evening work.

I will also try to watch Saturn and Mars when they are higher up in the sky, around May. Maybe watcher the moon.

I will still try to find DSOs or maybe double stars. People have said that some objects are still visible also when it's not very dark. Time to find out which ones.

[chiltonstar]

Summer is often the best time for double star enthusiasts - good seeing, plus it's warm so you can enjoy a glass of your favourite rouge outside, listen to the bats chirping and set up the moth trap.

Chris

[iPeace]

This is my first year - and I promised myself that this year I would see:

• the Moon as never before
• Jupiter and its (Galilean) moons
• the rings of Saturn

First two have been smashing successes; Saturn has been too late and too low so far. Will be spending the Summer season at a location with an actual horizon (no buildings) and much less LP. In previous years at that location, Google Sky Map has told me I was seeing Saturn, I just didn't have a scope...

So Saturn or bust.

It should still get dark enough early enough for me to take advantage of cloudless nights. Just set up with the EP which gives me the widest possible true field of view and enjoy space travel. I can hop the main stars of each visible constellation, letting the scope show me what's in between. Just learn a lot by looking. And if I find something that looks interesting, just switch eyepieces to frame it, gaze for a while, make a note and look it up later.

Then again, I've become a bit more ambitious and am thinking of planning a Messier marathon; I'll see how well galaxies and nebulae show up at my alternate location before I commit to this.

On The Sky At Night, there used to be a feature called the "Moore Summer Marathon", with targets especially selected for viewing during this season. I have a recording of such an episode, maybe I'll make a list.

[Paul M]

Summer is a great time to look skyward but I rarely get the scope out a month or 6 weeks either side of the solstice.

It's a beautiful time of year to just watch the Sun and Moon rise and set. Noctilucent clouds often make an appearance too.

I find BBQ's are a great time for some astro outreach up at our Cumbrian getaway.

 

[Peter Drew]

24/7, 365/6 for me one way or another (yes I do dream about astronomy!), mostly solar in the Summer but an endless list of maintenance and projects ongoing.   

[Hawksmoor]

Staying up later is no problem if you are lucky enough to be in good health and retired, so with weather compliant I keep going in my Lowestoft Backyard.  I really enjoy the summer sky and 'warm nights'.  Project wise, I am giving some thought to upping my game regarding 'spectroscopy' and building two new aerials for very basic radio reception.

[Droogie 2001]

As many have already said I don't stop for the summer.
In fact the summer is far more productive time of year for imaging at least it is for me anyway.

It does of course mean later starts and finishing times which is a pain when I have work the next /same day.

Sadly the UK weather is too unpredictable to not make use of this time of year...

[Peco4321]

To add to my earlier post as a Newbie I really need to get to grips navigating around with an eq mount, backwards and upside down! I can find objects in a photo of a few objects by star hoping but translating that to a reflector on an eq mount is another thing, so no better time than warmer months to get prepared for better skies in the season.  Any tips greatly appreciated (Turn left at Orion on birthday list!)

[ollypenrice]

Astro season coming to an end in the northern hemisphere?  

I hope not, it's my mad busy season! At Lat 44 19 N I'm almost bang on mid-northern latitude, half way between pole and equator. Literally the shortest night can give nearly 4 hours of astronomical darkness, depending on the moon, so it's perfectly realistic, with three cameras running, to pull in over nine hours of data. The Milky Way is at its best with Sagittarius, Scorpio etc well above the horizon.

So what do I do? WOrk all night on observing/imaging and work all day reducing the data and post processing. I'll have you in tears!

lly

[Linda]

51 minutes ago, Peco4321 said:

To add to my earlier post as a Newbie I really need to get to grips navigating around with an eq mount, backwards and upside down! I can find objects in a photo of a few objects by star hoping but translating that to a reflector on an eq mount is another thing, so no better time than warmer months to get prepared for better skies in the season.  Any tips greatly appreciated (Turn left at Orion on birthday list!)

Add a red dot finder (Rigel or Telrad) to your scope. When navigating through your finder, you can peek in the reddot finder to see which way is left/right/up/down. I have great benefit from having both.

[Mak the Night]

The summer can be a great time for lunar/planetary observing (where I am anyway). Jupiter and Venus can look spectacular setting low in the western twilight sky. I had some superb views of a rising Moon in shirtsleeve conditions last year.

Then there's the summer triangle. 

[StuartJPP]

 

During these summer months I practice shaking my fist and cursing at the sky, whether it is cloudy or not, that way I don't lose the knack when it comes time to image.

[Thalestris24]

I keep going too even if imaging is limited to between ~12 and ~2am up here. It's been a terrible last 6 months weatherwise here so far so if there are any opportunities through the late spring and summer, I'll take 'em! I've recently got a mono cooled 550d, a newish apo scope, and a 500mm lens and I'm determined to acquire some good data with them! Everything's much pleasanter with warmer weather Might try some solar again too. I've previously not had brilliant results with solar but need to try harder! 

Louise

[Thalestris24]

On ‎30‎/‎03‎/‎2016 at 16:11, Skipper Billy said:

I get my 1963 Mk1 MG Midget out of the garage and go fly my model aircraft between April and August !!

My business is very seasonal (and its a short season in Scotland !) so stopping up late in the Summer just isn't going to happen!

Back in the day I used to have an Austin Healey Sprite (BRG) with wire wheels and, later, a yellow Mk III Midget - loved driving them, especially in the summer with the tops down 

Louise

[Peter Drew]

Never thought I'd read Olly delving into astrology!  

[Davey-T]

6 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

Never thought I'd read Olly delving into astrology!  

Must be a sign

Dave

[ollypenrice]

8 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Must be a sign

Dave

I'll give you a sign!!!!

51 minutes ago, Thalestris24 said:

Back in the day I used to have an Austin Healey Sprite (BRG) with wire wheels and, later, a yellow Mk III Midget - loved driving them, especially in the summer with the tops down 

Louise

In my dotage I'm a bit that way inclined myself, Louise!

 

[steppenwolf]

I don't see an end of the season at all, just a fresh set of challenges. If I do have a quiet patch, it is that period after Orion has gone and The Summer Triangle hasn't arrived - I don't really have the correct focal length for galaxies ........

[ollypenrice]

1 minute ago, steppenwolf said:

I don't see an end of the season at all, just a fresh set of challenges. If I do have a quiet patch, it is that period after Orion has gone and The Summer Triangle hasn't arrived - I don't really have the correct focal length for galaxies ........

Very common problem. Since the departure of what Sara dubbed 'The Oil Drum' - AKA Yves' 14 inch - I've been in the same boat. This is why I found the offer of a 10 inch ACF impossible to resist. Purely for business reasons, of course. There really is a void for shorter focal lengths in April and May. 

Olly

[Thalestris24]

7 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

I'll give you a sign!!!!

In my dotage I'm a bit that way inclined myself, Louise!

 

That's a lot flasher than the MG I used to have, Olly!

Louise

[Thalestris24]

8 hours ago, Thalestris24 said:

I keep going too even if imaging is limited to between ~12 and ~2am up here. It's been a terrible last 6 months weatherwise here so far so if there are any opportunities through the late spring and summer, I'll take 'em! I've recently got a mono cooled 550d, a newish apo scope, and a 500mm lens and I'm determined to acquire some good data with them! Everything's much pleasanter with warmer weather Might try some solar again too. I've previously not had brilliant results with solar but need to try harder! 

Louise

I see there's a transit of Mercury coming up on May 9th from around midday. That'll be a tiny wee dot on the solar disc... Still, might have a go at imaging it - maybe a Barlow would help?

[steppenwolf]

Quote

This is why I found the offer of a 10 inch ACF impossible to resist. Purely for business reasons, of course.

An appealing offer indeed, Olly and tax deductible too

[ollypenrice]

Well, things are going strong down at Lat 44 with a decent night last night (SQM 21.5) and the wind abated. Seven hours and twenty seven minutes of astronomical darkness. It really is remarkable how small a distance south you need to go to get dark summer nights.

I kept hovering around Frans' rig watching data come in from the 10 inch we're buying from him. Like standing outside a sweet shop as a penniless kid.

3 hours ago, Thalestris24 said:

That's a lot flasher than the MG I used to have, Olly!

Louise

Heheh. Cars, like clothes, stop looking flashy when they have me inside them, Louise! If I walked into a Saville Row tailor (a big 'if...') their faces would fall because they'd know that, whatever they gave me, I'd still look like a clochard when I left. My wife usually tells me to change my jumper before I go out but I ask why, since my jumpers always look as if they have scrambled egg running down the front even when they don't.

Olly